Railway points heating for the Dutch Railway

CASE 

Approximately a third of all points heating supplied to the Dutch Railway network comes from Wijchen. We have been supplying the burners that ensure that railway switches work correctly in the winter through our business contact Adhetec for many years.

Here the gas-fired burner pipes are what matter and these are supplied with a KIWA product quality certificate. In addition, the fact that ProRail, the railway network manager, allows us to take a constructive approach when it comes to alternative heating concepts is special. These development projects have also resulted in two patented innovations.

 

Wisselverwarming

Operational points heating

 

veerclip

Spring clip

 

1. No messing around with burner pipes any more……

The first innovation is related to the convenience of the installation and removal of the burner pipes that are located alongside the tracks. Once or twice a year they must be removed for maintenance purposes. This takes place at night and often under harsh weather conditions to ensure that train traffic is not disturbed. Previously, maintenance employees found it quite difficult to do this.

……thanks to a useful spring clip

To resolve this problem, we developed a practical system with a spring clip that is positioned in a support. This innovative construction ensures that the maintenance engineer can remove the burner pipe and install it again, on his or her own, in 30 seconds. This not only ensures that the contractor who is in charge of track maintenance benefits from time saved (many hours), but the reliability of the installation is also improved.

2. Ingenious reflection screen……

Gas fired points heating systems are based on radiant burners that are ignited centrally. However, we observed that much heat was lost with the existing system. To improve the efficiency, we therefore developed a reflection screen that increases the heat transfer back to the track.  

……for a 20% fuel saving

The reflection screen is also patented and, in practice, delivers a fuel saving of 20% . This represents a significant cost reduction as well as a CO2 emission reduction. Moreover, based on this proven potential to save energy, this project was granted government funding.

Peripherals developed in-house

 

Gas lines

 

Emergency shut-off valve

“SymPulse” igniter units

“The great quality of the Xeamos engineers is that they involve all parties in the development process from the very start. For example, they joined the maintenance team of a railway contractor in the middle of the night and spoke to engineers of ProRail and Adhetec during the preliminary process. Furthermore, the suppliers and the subsidy grantor were also already involved during the preliminary process. This is how you develop a product that works under the most extreme conditions and is also competitive.”

RON BROUWERS / ADHETEC BV DIRECTOR AND OWNER

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